Aristotle
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the Macedonian city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BCE). His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology,metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great starting from 343 BCE. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history ... and every scientist is in his debt." Tossup Questions # This man's list of properties which are "in" a primary substance versus properties which are "said of" a primary substance is commented on in the Isagoge. This deviser of ten fundamental Categories wrote that some people are naturally disposed to be slaves in a work laying out three good and three perverse types of government. His notion of telos, or end purpose of an object, is among his (*) "four causes." The first man to describe the supreme being as an "unmoved mover," he wrote that each virtue consists of a mean between vices at extremes. For 10 points, name this Greek philosopher whose lectures were written down in Politics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Metaphysics, a student of Plato. # This thinker discussed the teleological explanation of the purposes of kidneys and teeth in relation to the last of his four causes, and he claimed that the soul and body are special cases of matter in comparison to a tool in his De Anima. In another work, this thinker outlined various deficiencies that correspond with a series of moral virtues and proposed that the goal for all humans is to achieve a state of well-being and happiness that he termed eudaimonia. That work was named for the son of this thinker, who also discussed peripeteia and catharsis as key elements of tragedy in another work. For 10 points, name this student of Plato who wrote the Nicomachean Ethics and Poetics. # This thinker stated that propeteia and astheneia, or impetuosity and weakness, were forms of akrasia, or incontinence. He drew various analogies between physical health and eudaimonia. Theophrastus succeeded this thinker in the Peripatetic school. This thinker claimed that the role of tragedy was to cleanse the mind of pity and terror and expounded on the ideas of mimesis and catharsis in his Poetics. For 10 points, name this Greek author of the Nichomachean Ethics, a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great. # This thinker was succeeded by Theophrastus (THEE-oh-FRASS-tuss) as leader of his school. Commentaries on his work form the bulk of the philosophy of Averroes (AH-vuh-ROE-ess). He named his major work on ethics after his son, and he put forth the "impetus" theory of motion in his Physics. This leader of the Peripatetic school was a (*) tutor of Alexander the Great, and himself was a student of Plato. For 10 points, name this ancient Greek, whose Politics and Nichomachean Ethics are foundational texts of philosophy. # One idea proposed by this theorist is the spectacle, or opsis. He also discussed the idea of simulated representation, which he referred to by a term later used to title a book by Erich Auerbach, mimesis (mim-EE-sis). He also identified the anagnorisis (aa-nag-nor-EE-sis), or moment of recognition, and the peripeteia (per-uh-pit-EY-uh), or reversal of circumstances, as elements of drama. Other elements include hamartia (hah-MARSH-uh), a character's tragic flaw, and catharsis. For 10 points, name this ancient Greek philosopher who analyzed drama in his Poetics.